July 15, 2013- He first bought the tiny company’s stock after bunking down in its chief executive’s six-bedroom home.

He added to his holdings soon after the rollout of a new product that the company hinted could be a cure for Alzheimer’s disease.

As the stock reached a 52-week high last year, he sold part of his portfolio for a $4,000 profit.

Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II, Virginia’s attorney general, said that the timing of his ownership of Star Scientific shares reflected nothing more than his own investment analysis.

Star Scientific and its chief executive have been at the center of an exploding political drama in Virginia as state and federal investigators look into lavish gifts that the executive, Jonnie R. Williams Sr., gave Gov. Bob McDonnell.

And now, despite his efforts to distance himself, scrutiny is growing of Mr. Cuccinelli’s ties to the executive.

Aides to Mr. Cuccinelli, the Republican candidate for governor this year, insisted he enjoyed nothing like the relationship to Mr. Williams that Mr. McDonnell had. Last week Mr. Cuccinelli indirectly condemned Mr. McDonnell, a fellow Republican, for the first time, lamenting, “What we’ve all been seeing is very painful for Virginia.”

The statement followed a report that Mr. Williams’s gifts to the governor and his family totaled $145,000, and included a Rolex watch, designer clothing and a $50,000 check to Mr. McDonnell’s wife. The gifts were first revealed in The Washington Post.